U.S.: Alicia, a lesbian from Louisville, Ky., is fired from her job at the Kentucky Baptist Home for Children because she is a lesbian. * Friendship vs. Love in the Age of AIDS by Andrew Sullivan, and Cole Porter: A Biography by William McBrien, are in stores. * Matthew Shepard is murdered in Wyoming. * In Spokane, Grant Smith, a gay student at Gonzaga University, receives a letter threatening him with the same fate as Shepard.
1993
U.S.: Rumors abound among the fundamentalist Christian community that two male Muppets have a same-sex wedding ceremony in the touring stage show Sesame Street Live. Jim Henson Productions issues the following statement: 'There is no truth whatsoever to the rumors that Bert and Ernie are married.' * Plantation Lullabies, the first album by Me'shell NdegéOcello, is in record stores. * In bookstores: I Dream of Madonna, a compilation of 50 women's dreams about Ms. Ciccone, edited by Kay Turner, the lead vocalist with all-lesbian band Girls In The Nose. * The Evangelical Lutheran Church releases a 21-page report called The Church and Human Sexuality: A Lutheran Perspective, which says, among other things, that masturbation is healthy, and that the Bible supports same-sex relationships. * The direct-action group, the Lesbian Avengers, protest during a speech by Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., in New York City. Nunn is targeted because of his fight to retain the Pentagon's ban on gay and lesbian service personnel.
1988
U.S.: The 1st National Coming Out Day is celebrated. * Gay entertainer Wayland Flowers dies of cancer at age 42. * More than 150 people are arrested at the FDA in Washington, D.C., when hundreds demonstrate against the Reagan administration's inaction on AIDS, and the slowness of the FDA's drug approval policy. * The Alexandria, Va., city council passes an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays in the city. * Mario Ivan Leyva, a self-ordained Pentecostal minister, and two of his assistants, plead guilty to using their traveling ministry to recruit young boys for sex. * The Advocate reports that playwright Terrence McNally has completed the first draft of a musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman.
1983
U.S.: During an HBO comedy special, Eddie Murphy launches into a tirade against 'faggots' and makes jokes about AIDS. * George Liberace, a bandleader and violinist, and also the brother of the flamboyant pianist, dies in Las Vegas at age 71. Toward the end of his life, George ran the Liberace museum that included the cars, the pianos, and the furs, feathers and diamonds worn by his famous brother. * In Las Cruces, N.M., Lambda-NMSU, a lesbian and gay student group, is recognized for the first time by the New Mexico State University. Previously, recognition had been denied on the grounds that the group was 'immoral and unwanted in the campus community.' * The University of Alabama recognizes its Gay Student Union as an official university organization. * Hot Disco club hits: 'Band Of Gold' by Sylvester, 'Searchin' (I Gotta Find A Man)' by Hazel Dean and 'So Many Men, So Little Time' by Miquel Brown. * Canada: The annual softball game between the Vancouver Police Department and the West End Softball Association (WESA), a gay team, is canceled because of fears over AIDS. A spokesman for WESA tells Body Politic: 'There's absolutely no way they can catch AIDS from playing ball with us. We don't play ball that way. We promise not to kiss them.'
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